Past Blog Posts

Politico reports that the Ninth Circuit last week heard arguments on a landmark case testing child migrants’ right to counsel in deportation hearings. During the hearing, the three-judge panel often seemed to be warning the Justice Department that hiding behind jurisdictional rules in a case involving minors wasn’t true justice at all. “It’s a real practical problem,” stated Judge Milan Smith. “[R]ealistically, [the DOJ is] saying that while there may be individuals who are lucky enough to have pro bono counsel and the like, … [the children] are out of luck because they cannot defend themselves.”